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Details of Record Offices in the UK

This list of addresses was compiled using data derived from the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Record Repositories in Great Britain, 11th Edition, 1999, personal notification of changes by the staff of the National Archives of the UK and information available on the individual websites.

They feature below, repository by repository. The ARCHON directory code number for each location, as given in the National Archivesdirectory (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/default.htm) Record Repositories in Great Britain, is also cited below. Some sites observe the CARN scheme, whereby readers' tickets are issued in advance, without reference to availability of space at the Record Office; others require booking of space; the PRO which operates its own readers' ticket scheme, rarely operate so near their capacity. The information given here will be regularly updated. The order used will give an indication of the volume of relevant holdings, with the biggest such holdings featuring first.

National Archives of the UK:

(NRA Code 66) Wheelchair accessible site A reader's ticket is required (with proof of identity in first instance). The PRO has an extensive digital catalogue with papers indexes and a library also consultable on site. Holdings include MT classes (UK's most important body of motorway papers); also the CAB, TRE, COU, OS, and HLG classes.

Institution of Civil Engineers, (ICE), 1-7 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA.

(Code 6) Wheelchair accessible. A letter of introduction and pre-booking is required. ICE holds all ICE' archival papers and publications, Sir Frederick 's Cooks, O.T. Williams papers and illustrations, Mott Hay Anderson's photographs and the Hard Shoulder (Survive) papers. Also all the IMCE and BRF archives. Although professional members have priority a research service is also offered to non-members based on ICE's large library and archive catalogue.

(NRA Code 61) Booking, confirmation of appointment, and ID required by the Pass Office. Wheelchair accessible. Holdings include deposited Parliamentary Plans for all early motorway Bills and Acts; also significant holdings on earlier turnpikes, and on road bridges, wetland reclamation and enclosures.

(NRA Code 69) Wheelchair accessible. A reader's ticket is required (with proof of identity in first instance). An extensive digital library catalogue is available; the Museum also holds historically important civil engineering artefacts e.g. the Deflectograph. Its vehicles are at Wroughton.

This is a very significant location for the Motorway Archive Trust's Eastern and Midland regional papers which have been catalogued and deposited through the good offices of team leaders D. Evans and J. Carrington, with the significant design and routeing issues related to motorways located in the County Surveyors' Departmental archive.

Also housed here are the papers of the Contractor, John Laing.

Lancashire CC Record Office. Click to see contact, access and other details of this record office, then use the "back" arrow to return.

This location includes the major deposit of Motorway Archive Trust papers assembled through H L Yeadon about M6 M61, M55, M57, M58; M60, M62, M65, M66, A601(M) and A602(M). Its Record Office reference number is: DDX2286. There wiil be an "Accession Number" for individual schemes. There is also a very important set of County Surveyors' papers, including those of Sir James Drake, supplemented by a large County Surveyors' office website.

(NRA Code 17) Member of the CARN scheme. Wheelchair accessible. Material relating to the development and construction of the motorways in Cheshire (primarily M56 and M53) has been deposited by the into this record office and has been listed under “archive information” on the various schemes. Its Accession Number is 06115, ands its Class Reference is D6115.

(Code 23) Member of the CARN scheme. Wheelchair accessible. A significant deposit of research papers on M6 has been made here by the Motorway Archive Trust. See G.O. Lockwood's papers as County Surveyor in the 1940s.

(NRA Code 40) Wheelchair accessible. A reader's ticket is required (with proof of identity in first instance). Research Service is available. There are significant holdings from County Surveyors on M5 and a deposit of design and environmental papers. (See W.E. Gallagher, Chapter 10) A fee may be payable.

(NRA Code:168) Wheelchair accessible. There is a significant deposit of Motorway Archive papers by F Johnson, a former County Surveyor, for the M4 and M5. There are also County Surveyors' Departmental papers and a related website.

Surrey History Centre. Click to see contact, access and other details of this record office, then use the "back" arrow to return.

Research service. Motorway Archive papers relating to the Trust's South East Region deposited by the team leader P.Lee.

(Code 51) Member of the CARN scheme, with advance booking required. Wheelchair access. Some reference to Kent's turnpike trust and early highway administration as mentioned in Chapter 1 is accessible. Significant holdings on the M2, M20, and M26 motorways in Kent as result of work before and during the SERCU Sub-unit's life in Kent. Also a good County Surveyors' Collection. A research service is available.

(Code 41) Member of the CARN scheme. Wheelchair accessible. Research service is available Some papers on the M3 are held reflecting strong local interest in Twyford Down. Others on M27, M271, M275 and A3(M).

(Code 182) Member of the CARN scheme. Wheelchair accessible. Research service is available. Only the County Surveyors' Departmental Collection can be consulted freely. Consulting private papers requires permission from their Trustees, including the County Surveyors Society papers; William Rees Jeffreys's papers; and the Garland Collection.

Wheelchair accessible. Appointment is required. Material here relates to the Port, Silvertown Way, M25,river crossings and re-use of derelict land. Also early road traffic survey data from 1771 as cited in Chapter1 and 7 of this volume.

Other collections:

Imperial War Museum, Library and Department of Documents, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ,

A readers ticket is required with proof of identity on first application. Wheelchair access is available. This is the official repository for the official records of Northern Ireland, including the Roads Service Northern Ireland. See here T.J.. McCormick, et.al. The Northern Ireland Motorway Achievement, Roads Service and the Motorway Archive Trust, Belfast, 2002.

Glasgow University Archives and Business Record Centre, 13 Thurso Street, Glasgow G11 6PE

(Code 245) Wheelchair access is limited. A reader's ticket is required with poof of identity initially. Advance booking is also required. This repository contains the archival collection of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd.

National Library of Wales, Department of Manuscripts and Records, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3BU

(Code 210) Wheelchair accessible. A Reader's Ticket is required. This site is the major official repository of Public Records in Wales with some records transferred from the PRO. Its collections assembled from private bodies all over Wales go much wider. This is the expected destination of the Welsh element of the Trust's Motorway Archive. A research service is available.

Herfordshire Record Office holds some very significant turnpike material cited in Chapter 1; extensive records of provision for Highways maintenance by JP in Quarter sessions and a small collection of material relating to the M1 and ffoliot's part in M1 design is retained with outline data on other schemes in the county, notably Stevenage By Pass A1(M) and A41 ( M) by passing Tring and Berkhamstead. .

Royal Automobile Club and the RAC Foundation for Motoring, 89-91 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HS.

Appointment is required by direct contact with their archivist, Joan Williamson: 020 7515 1162. Some useful on S. F. Edge data on Sir Frederick Cook is held. While the Club' archive is large it is essentially a private collection of papers. Its archivist is only employed part time and so most inquiries are dealt with by letter rather than by direct public consultation.

Not open to the public; however, a very comprehensive website is available. Additionally brief details of a few listed roads and motorway structures, e.g. river crossings, A5 in Wales, are in the National Monuments Records at Swindon or Cardiff; or the Royal Commission on Ancient Historical Monuments, Edinburgh. The OS records insofar as they are available are readily consulted at the Public Record Office , Kew where they form the large OS class.

Yorkshire North Riding

The County Record Office, County Hall, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, DL7 8AF

Booking required to use its very small office, barely more than was required to run the local but large Deeds Registry. No wheelchair access is possible. Other offices in the Central Library at Bradford (albeit with no wheelchair access) Halifax, with wheelchair access; Huddersfield and Leeds; also Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 23 Clarendon Road, Leeds, LS29NZ

Yorkshire East Riding

County Hall, Beverley until 1999 when closed and relocated to a new wheelchair accessible site.

Note: Proposals are nearly agreed for a combined County Record Office, and the historic Yorkshire Deeds Registry to be built with HLF funding. Any Motorway Archive Trust for Yorkshire and the work of NERCU deposit will advisedly await the outcome of these negotiations; site to be formally agreed - probably in York with access to the Borthwick Institute and York Minster collections.

A small library for professional members only, but its website, hosting the UK motorway archive portal is full of very significant content with considerable data available there about the Motorway Archive with links to other websites.